The New Season in L.A.: Part 1, the Phil
During the summer the music programming stays pretty much with the established and conventional, if not with the outright light and popular. I missed about the only performance of contemporary music at the Bowl, and the programming of the concerts by the lawn of the Huntington Gardens by the Southwest Chamber musicians was much more traditional than usual so that the one real treat was Elissa Johnston singing the Berio “Folk Songs” as part of a delightful program of Debussy supplemented by Lou Harrison and the Berio songs. But now we’re ready to have more music of today.
Arranging our calendars for contemporary music always begins with the Phil, which is appropriate since it was those long-ago concerts conducted by Mehta in which he cajoled us in the audience to really try to hear those sounds of Berio and Crumb and Boulez and Messiaen (not to mention Schoenberg, Webern and Berg). With my wife and me, those words from the conductor took root.
The major series in this season’s L.A. Philharmonic programs is a Sibelius cycle, conducted by Salonen, in commemoration of his death 50 years ago (or is it for the 80th year of regret at his silence). That series will include the seven symphonies in five programs, four by orchestra and one by chamber strings, plus an additional program of Salonen conducting the Sibelius Institute youth orchestra), beginning October 12 and ending October 26. Supplementing the Sibelius will be three new or recent works: another revival of Salonen’s “Wing on Wing”; a premiere of a new work by Steven Stucky, “Radical Light”; and John Estacio’s orchestration of “Seven Songs by Sibelius” (2006), sung by Ben Heppner. The programs will be taken by Salonen and the orchestra to London and Paris in November. The chamber concert will combine the Sibelius String Quartet with Carl Nielsen’s idiosyncratic “Serenata in Vano” (1914) for clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello, and double bass; and with the string quartet of Grieg and Aulis Sallinen‘s third quartet (1969).
The second major series of the season is in January, a series named “Concrete Frequency” to explore the intersections and interactions of contemporary music and contemporary city life. David Robertson will be conductor/curator of the series, consisting of three subscription programs, plus a new music series program, plus symposia, films, and an evening devoted to urban-inspired music, hip-hop dance, and graffitti art (yes, in Walt Disney Concert Hall). The program for the Green Umbrella (new music) concert isn’t yet announced, but the programs for the three orchestra concerts are a delight, ranging from Zappa, Crumb, Varese, and Copland in the first program; to Berio (Sequenza X), Feldman, Benjamin, Zimmermann and Ives in the second program; to the premiere of a new work by Michael Gordon and Bill Morrison, preceded by the Boulez “explosante fixe” (I think the version of 1991-1993). January 4 through January 15 would be a good time to travel to Los Angeles and experience the Phil in Disney.
Other highlights of the Phil’s season include the performance (and recording) of Salonen’s “Piano Concerto” in a program with the premiere of Stucky’s arrangement of “Les Noces”; the premiere of Knussen’s “Cello Concerto”; Pierre-Laurent Aimard playing Messiaen’s “Oiseaux exotiques”; Dudamel conducting Salonen’s “Insomnia”; the Britten “War Requiem”; and the Strauss “Metamorphosen” and Berio’s orchestration of Bach’s “Contrapuntus XIX” in the opening concert.
And then we have the five programs of the Green Umbrella series of new music. There will be an evening with focus on Kaija Saariaho, plus Dallapiccola. There will be an evening to focus on Steven Stucky, including two West Coast premieres, plus the West Coast premieres of James Matheson’s “Songs of Desire, Love, and Loss” and Susan Botti’s “Jabberwocky”. There will be an evening with Ursula Oppens as soloist performing the premiere of Harold Meltzer’s “Piano Concerto”, plus the premiere of a new work by Gabriela Frank, plus Carter’s “Dialogues”, plus Ginastera’s “Cantata para America Magica”. There will be an evening of the music of a Los Angeles favorite, Thomas Ades, including a premiere that includes videos of Tal Rosner. That’s in addition to the “Concrete Frequency” concert to be announced. And then Terry Riley is coming to Disney for a performance on the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ, which will include a new work created for the occasion. And the Kronos Quartet will appear with a concert including the Inuit singer, Tanya Tagaq, music by Sigur Ros and Xploding Plastix, and the premiere of a work by Derek Charke. Get your tickets now!
In subsequent posts I’ll discuss the coming series of the Monday Evening Concerts, PianoSpheres, Jacaranda, Southwest Chamber, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Contemporary music is clearly alive and growing in Los Angeles.
Me too, about the Ginastera. It is both funny and sad that out of that whole write-up, it was his remarkable cantata that immediately jumped out as the one item that was actually probably going to be interesting, and would be worth getting tickets for, if I was in the area.
Myself, I never liked the Ginastera piano concertos. They always struck me as garden-variety modernist piano concertos with too little individuality. Perhaps I need to give them another listen.
There is a magnificent recording of the Harp Concerto on the ASV label. The recording was made in the 1990’s, if I recall correctly. One of the disc’s couplings is the Piano Concerto No. 1, which receives a very bland performance.
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered the Harp Concerto, for what it’s worth. It was written for Nicanor Zabaleta–again, if I recall correctly.
Its structure is very free-form, and yet it hangs together beautifully. The composer used serial techniques, and yet it is a very sensuous and exotic work, ravishingly orchestrated.
It fully captured my attention the first time I heard it. Repeated listenings only reinforced my admiration for the work.
I heard it on recording back in the late 70’s. It was ok, but in my opinion just paled in comparison with the two piano concerti, his piano sonatas and both the cantata para america magica and Milena.
Have you heard the Ginastera Harp Concerto? That is one of the most beautiful pieces ever written. I am amazed that it is never performed. It should appeal to both modernist and traditional audiences.
VERY glad to see that Ginastera’s Cantata is getting performed. I still have the first (and I believe only) recording of this by Henri Temianka. It’s an amazing piece, like a lot of Ginastera’s somewhat neglected music.